AS THE Government prepares to announce its plans for the end of the current lockdown period, two of the borough’s four MPs have expressed concerns at future restrictions.
It is expected that from December 3, England will again revert to a tier system with localised restrictions in place that will be more severe than the previous system.
These new tiers will be announced on Thursday, November 26.
At the moment, Tier 1 is the least severe and limits the number of people who can meet to six, while pubs and restaurants have to close at 10pm.
Tier 2 areas are not allowed to mix households indoors, Tier 3 adds limits mixing even further and closes so-called wet pubs and bars.
It is not yet known what will change to these tiers.
In addition to the changes to the Sunday Telegraph reports today that the rules could be relaxed between December 22 and 28, to allow several families to mix over Christmas, although some restrictions will remain in place.
However, with coronavirus levels remaining high, the Government’s scientific advisory committee, SAGE, has warned that for every day restrictions are lifted, five days of restrictions would be needed.
Writing on Twitter, Wokingham MP Sir John Redwood pushed for more relaxations of the rules.
“We need more than a few days of permitted contact over Christmas,” he wrote.
“We need a plan to protect the vulnerable who want help, improve our health care and restore our freedoms.
“We need to rescue many jobs and businesses on the edge of loss from lock down.”
And Bracknell MP James Sunderland went further, saying that areas with lower rates of Covid-19 should be allowed to resume everyday life.
“As we look beyond Lockdown 2, pragmatism is needed. Draconian restrictions cannot be imposed on low infection areas and we must get back to normal. A viable vaccine will be magic but we also need to learn to live alongside the virus as best we can to preserve our jobs and sanity,” he wrote.
There were 33 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Wokingham borough on Saturday, November 21, and the current weekly rate is 125.1 people per 100,000. Three people with the virus died in the seven days to November 6, the last date for which figures are available.
